Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia

Have I ever mentioned how much I love sydney?!? We touched down Friday morning and stepped outside to insanely clear blue skies. Temperature…29 degrees. The car rental place didn’t have a van ready for us due to a golfball hailstorm the night before (?!) so they paid for us to have coffee while we waited. Meanwhile, my luggage skipped town and decided to stay on board for a ride to Brisbane…so Virgin Airlines paid us to have lunch. Sweet. It was the perfect start to this leg of our vacation.

Since it was only 1pm when we finally left the airport…we quickly dropped off our bags at our ‘home’ for the next 10 days (a beautiful 4-bedroom home), threw on our bathing suits and went straight to Bondi Beach. There are no words to describe Bondi on a clear & hot day but…faboooolous! The beach was totally packed! The temperature was just perfect with the ocean breeze…all we did for the rest of the day was lay out in the sun. I am convinced nowthat I belong here (… ben’s getting there)

Yesterday we spent the day at Manly Beach, another one of our favorites. We managed to hit one of the busiest weekends on that beach with lifeguard competitions going on Manly is awesome…reminds me a lot of Santa Barbara. We ended up visiting two more beaches later that afternoon and finished our day at the fish market where we stocked up on fresh oysters, snapper and huge prawns!

This morning we went to Hillsongs. It was amazing to see their new facility. The place is huge, yet built in such a way where it still feels homey. Worship was awesome…led by Reuban Morgan and Marty Sampson. We’re here right before their annual live album recording, so Sunday morning becomes a time where they do a ton of new songs to get the congregation familiarized with them in time for the recording. There were 2 songs in particular which were really good (1 by Marty and 1 by Reuban)…now I’m looking forward to their new live album…should be great! Both Brian Houston and Darlene were away this particular Sunday so another pastor gave the message. It was really good…and convicting, it was on ‘mixtures’…which I’m sure makes absolutely no sense to you at the moment…but I’ll have it to share when I get home. *PS. Their CD’s cost $30 at their store(!?) ri-ight…think I’ll just wait to go home and pick them up…

Alright, now more on a personal note…

…the SHOPPING! I love how everyone is so casual and laidback here…and it definately shows in their style!! Everything is super casual, yet when pulled together properly, looks amazing! Think…abercrombie-surfer…chic? Hard to explain…we weren’t planning on buying much, but we’re already having trouble squeezing everything into our luggage. Does HK finally have some competition?

Another thing to add…some examples of outrageous pricing in oz:
a) 1 small bag of KERNELS popcorn = $7.95 !?!? I kid you not. and the embarassing thing is…I bought two…AND even worse, it tastes NOTHING like what it does at home.
b) Roxy & Billabong…(in my opinion) is typically worn by more board-chick-skater-surfer chick-like girls…and cost about $30 a tee or so. I don’t typically buy much of it BUT…the clothes here are nice! Totally different designs than what you’d find at home. What’s crazy is that these brands all originated in Australia…so you would think it’d be cheaper here…? omg, you’re looking at $50 for a girls tee…$80 for a bag or skirt…
c) Rock & Republic jeans….get this…$400 (!?!) diesel runs upwards to $500…I should’ve known when I found a store with Mavi’s yesterday and they were $140!? I should really start a jean-hussle here…

alright, times up! will post more later…thanks to all of you who have emailed to let us know how you’re doing! miss you lots! will post our latest sydney pics in the next few days.